At a time that could be considered the dawn of hot rodding, young rodders who wanted to go fast quickly learned that stripping a roadster or coupe down to its bare essentials was key in their obsession for speed. From here prospects opened up for an entirely new industry where high-performance camshafts, heads, intake manifolds, and ignition systems were developed in an attempt to get hot rods to go even faster. It's easy to see the attraction to the dry lakes, salt flats, and dragstrips as testbeds for these newly designed products. Today, cutting-edge technology allows our industry to grow constantly. Somewhere in the mix are groupings of traditional hot rodders who are content with using the "originally" technology developed in the '40s and '50s.
Reliability runs were conceived to allow car owners the opportunity to put their soup jobs to the ultimate test on a planned course that would challenge their cars from all perspectives, including acceleration, braking, adverse temperatures, and sometimes-mountainous conditions. There has been a rejuvenation of these runs in different parts of the country with one of the most well known being the River City Reliability Run put on by Mark Morton, publisher of Hop Up magazine. Having personally experienced it a number of years ago, you have to know there is nothing like the sound of a hot cammed V-8 as it wails its guts through a vintage quick-change on a mountain range.
On the East Coast, the Rolling Bones Hot Rod Shop has been staging their own version over the last few years with great success along the serpentine roads carving through some of the most beautiful countryside in Upstate New York. When the offer came in from Ken Schmidt for the opportunity to drive his new Rolling Bones-built, salt flat-racing pedigree Deuce roadster for the weekend, it was an opportunity that nobody in his or her right mind would ever pass up!
It's now 6 p.m. on the evening before the reliability run and there's a small group of hot rodders assembled in Ken's home workshop hanging out, swapping stories, and waiting for the hot pizza and wings to arrive. Usually at this time there are close to 40 hot rods and their owners crammed inside the small shop, but on this particular evening the heavens have opened up and sent such torrential rain into Upstate New York that it has to be measured in inches. Suddenly the phone rings and Ken answers the call. It's a group of rodders from out of state wondering if the run is still set to go on for Sunday since the weather has everything but fire and brimstone forecasted. Ken's deadpan reply is "sure it's on, what does it matter if it rains, hails, or even snows?" Bad weather is never anything that could shed an ounce of influence on a diehard group of hot rodders who have more cross-country miles on them than a Greyhound bus. All of a sudden the rains become hellbent and minutes later a group of headlights come up the long driveway in the dank, cold night. It's a few more rodders who are unfazed by the weather ... soaked to the bone in foul weather gear, wearing day-old beards, they enter into the shop sopping wet from the trip in their tough-as-nails jalopies, with some of the best stories to tell from the looks on their smiling faces.
This is the real deal folks; you won't find any room for a wash and wax or a lawn chair; instead some Rain-X, dry clothes, and a hot shower are your best friend. Hard miles on wicked hot rods are the roots of our hobby, especially when true enthusiasts drive them. These are the guys and gals who are out there hammering down the miles like they're driving a brand-new car instead of 50-something-year-old Detroit iron.
On the day of the run, it's an early call and the weather is making no promises of clearing. Instead the roads are slick and there is plenty of ground fog welcoming you at the Rolling Bones shop where the run will commence. There's nothing like the smell of fresh coffee and boxes of doughnuts stacked to the ceiling to welcome you. After a brief pep talk, participants are handed a neat set of directions that will lead them through a well-planned myriad of road conditions once they pass through the sole traffic light in the town of Greenfield on their 75-mile journey. If they were able to follow the directions correctly, there were plenty of interesting markers to guide them as they wound through the turns that included a great 10-mile highway blast with rooster tails flying to a midpoint stop at the top of Prospect Mountain in Lake George, New York, where everyone met in the mist as they arrived in the middle of a fog bank ... cool. From there it was back on the road, which led to a final destination of Jack and Sherry Farry's amazing farm that had endless classic barns filled to the brim with vintage steel and memorabilia. As if the crew from Rolling Bones made a deal with you know who, the skies parted for a few hours, letting everyone enjoy the chance to burn some meats on the grill as they caught up and talked about what a gas the day was. The experience is one that every car owner should undertake, as the soul of a hot rod will never be complete util it has a chance to run wild. Dig it!